Member

Genius

Depending on how much your backing up, you should probably plug your phone into the wall charger, make sure you are connected to wifi also. Keep us apprised of the situation.
We / someone will get you through this

Contributor

WiFi as in router samething your laptop most likly uses for internet you have to connect to a network if you don't have a WiFi router try a McDonalds or other fast food place that offers free wifi, most hospitals offer it now

Sent from my 32GB iPhone 4s on iOS 5.1!
Only thing iPhone is missing is an expandable memory port! Come on Apple give us a microSD port already!

Member

Ok I plugged into computer,clicked back up to iCloud,then clicked sync with this iPhone over wifi them I clicked sync! So my phone was doing something because tree was a circle going round at the top! Then it said on my computer last backed up today and the time!
Please tell me this is correct

Member

it seems that you just backed up your iPhone then, if it says that the last backup was done "today". You don't need a computer to backup to the iCloud. You just need to have an active Internet connection (WiFi) enabled on your iPhone. Then tap on the "Back Up Now" as shown in the screenshots above.

WiFi as in router samething your laptop most likly uses for internet you have to connect to a network if you don't have a WiFi router try a McDonalds or other fast food place that offers free wifi, most hospitals offer it now.

Wifi = Wireless Network. If you have a wireless network setup at home or work, you might need a password to access it. Or, you could try one of the free wifi networks around. If you're on AT&T, they have them at starbucks and Home Depot. I know Panera bread has wifi. Just make sure Settings>Wi-Fi>Ask to Join Networks is on. Than you can find all wifi's. If there is a lock symbol next to it, than it requires a password. If not, you can select it.

Member

I come late but I come.
If you back up an iOS device and its the first backup you make there might be the message 'Cannot be completed' even if you repeat the backup procedure.
Its a problem of initializing all the data on the cloud servers of Apple when backing up the first time. So try it one more time. I periodically delete my iCloud backups of iPhone and iPad and get the message every time.
To see whether the first backup after this message is a real backup I restored on of the devices. All the data and settings came back as featured.

Member

The message 'The last backup could not be completed.' is nearly always displayed if you start an iCloud backup the first time.
It's unrewarding like many other error messages shown on any devices.

I get this message every time I delete the last iCloud backup for my iPad or iPhone going to Settings - iCloud - Storage + Backup - Manage Storage - (device name) - Backup options: Delete Backup
It never occurred on any later incremental backup regardless of whether it was started manually or automatically.

At the time you cannot find any support document on Apple's support website explicitly mentioning this error message.
Apple iCloud: Troubleshooting creating backupshttp://support.apple.com/kb/TS3992

For the protection of our customers, Apple does not disclose, discuss, or confirm security issues until a full investigation has occurred and any necessary patches or releases are available.
So it is not fully investigated and there are many potential reasons for failing backups.

Best practice ...

Do not believe all these statements in the forums.
They are all not really verified and based on special prerequisites and thereforee are not necessarily valid.

I start a manual backup every month since the release of iOS 5 after deleting the backup via Settings - iCloud - Storage + Backup - Manage Storage - (device name) - Backup options: Delete Backup. The following procedure works since more than one year.

Reboot the device and start a backup manually while the device is connected to the power supply.
If the backup fails repeat it.
Don't worry. Retaking a backup will only last some minutes unless there is already stored data of former attempts.

Note
When you back up the device shows an estimated time to finish.
You should know that these minutes are measured in DAMs (Dynamical Apple Minutes).
An Apple Minute may last an old fashioned minute or two or just 30 seconds.

I used iTunes to back up my iPod touch 4G but just before migrating to my iPhone 5, I enabled iCloud backup (thus disabling iTunes backup). I think iCloud backup is a better way to keep an image of your devce settings and data than iTunes. iTunes backup only works when you sync - iCloud backup works every night while you are asleep.

As far as apps go I think that iCloud backs up some app data while iTunes only backs up the .ipa-s.

iCloud backup back ups all app specific data of your device except you exclude an app from the backup.
To exclude data of apps go to Settings - iCloud - Storage+Backup - Manage Storage then select your device and goto Backup Options. This is only recommended if you are running out of memory at iCloud and don't want to change your storage plan from free to paid. Apps are never stored in iCloud. If you have to restore your device the apps last installed on your device are automatically downloaded from iTunes.

iCloud is definitely the better way to back up your device compared to iTunes.
You just have to activate iCloud backup and nothing more.
Nevertheless I recommend an additional iTunes backup e.g. one per month.
At the time it was never reported that a restore from an iCloud backup fails but the possibility cannot be excluded.

On my point of you iCloud backup and iCloud syncing is the most innovative concept of the last years.
It's surprisingly easy and after finishing the first backup (which may cause some problems; see my post above) it never failed on any of my devices. More than 500 backups were taken. As I am a backup freak I periodically check my backups by restoring them every two months.

What you should keep in mind is that backups are only encrypted if you use an Unlock Code for your device. I strongly tecommend to do so.